Rankings, schmankings . . . here’s how to win a case competition regardless of where your school falls in the media’s highly publicized college rankings.

First, consider how your school stacks up in head-to-head competition against the top-ranked schools in the country?

Think you can beat the so-called best?

Or are you itching to prove to the world that your ranking is deserved?

National and international case competitions are the best way for you to find out . . . and a way for senior B-school leadership to end-run the thankless game of  “higher ranked than thou.”

Prestige and Prizes

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in case competition prize money is disbursed every year, but only a handful of schools nationwide take presentations seriously.

Or even consider whether to teach their students how to win a case competition.

Often, teams with merely above average presentations walk away with the cash and laurels.  Chapter 18 of The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting offers the most comprehensive preparatory guide you can find anywhere on how to win a case competition.

In fact, it’s the only book on the market that covers the subject.

Crack the Competition Code

Why not crack the code, gain competitive advantage, and send a superior team to competitions nationwide?  As a student, you win money and job opportunities.  Your school gains prestige and superb publicity.

Yet many students shun these competitions, precisely because they involve group work.  But if you have not yet received the message, let’s repeat it here – collaboration to analyze complex problems and deliver the results in public presentations is how the real world of business works.

And that means “group work.”

The case competition is an event in which business teams deliver business presentations, competing against other teams in front of a team of judges.  Teams display how quickly, thoroughly, and skillfully they can ingest a case, analyze it, and then present their conclusions and recommendations to a panel of judges.

Case competitions vary greatly in the details, but they do have a standard format and purpose.  Here are some case competition tips on how to win a case competition to get you started . . .

So . . .

The idea behind such competitions is to provide a standard case to competing teams with a given time limit and then to rate how well the teams respond with analysis, recommendations, and a presentation of same.

Each team is judged independently how well it handles the assigned case and presents its analysis and recommendations.  There is usually a time limit and specific rules.  All teams compete under the same conditions.

Competitions can be internal to the Business School or involve teams from several different schools.

Oftentimes there are several rounds of competition, with the final round typically judged by outside company executives.

How to win a Case Competition?

The Case Competition is your chance to demonstrate a wide range of corporate business skills in a collaborative effort.  You receive recognition, valuable experience, sometimes monetary reward.

You may find an open door to corporate employment.

You can also win anywhere from $1,000 to $75,000 in a single competition.

It sounds a lot better now, doesn’t it?

But you’ll need more than a handful of case competition tips to lift you to the championship level.

You need a comprehensive guide to winning case competitions.

For more information on how to deliver Especially Powerful Business School Presentations and to learn the key techniques of how to win a case competition, consult The Complete Guide to Business School Presenting.